Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 arrived from Warner Bros. and Nintendo in the summer of 2000, riding the crest of Pokémania at its commercial peak. As the second theatrical feature built around the franchise, it pushed the animation and stakes beyond the television series, introducing audiences to a wider mythology of legendary Pokémon and elemental balance. For many collectors it marks the moment the brand proved it could sustain a cinematic universe, making surviving 35mm material from its theatrical run a tangible link to that early boom.
This cell preserves a frame of Lugia, the guardian legendary whose presence anchors the film's central conflict and gives the story its mythic scale. As the figure most associated with the movie's identity, Lugia is a natural focal point for collectors seeking a single image that represents the entire release. Whether drawn from a trailer reel or the finished print, a cell like this offers a physical fragment of that character's screen presence, a small remnant of the artwork used to bring Lugia to audiences in theaters.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds two frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched corners look clean and rounded.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge below the picture area, accompanied by what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone on the same edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a light cyan-blue tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image reads warm reddish-amber with violet highlights, showing no obvious fading.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are apparent in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; both frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single animated shot, consistent with the animated feature on record.
Era check
The combination of a cyan-base colour print stock, variable-area optical track, and Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s to early 2000s, matching the 2000 release date on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
